The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The NDP government is banning peat mining in Manitoba's provincial parks and compensating a company that applied to extract peat in one of them. 'While I recognize the value of more jobs and continued economic growth in Manitoba, there will never be a peat mine in a provincial park,' Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh said. As part of the ban, the province will pay $492,000 to Sun Gro Horticulture Canada, which had applied to extract peat in Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park. The province said the cash will reimburse Sun Gro's expenses for past lease payments and related exploration and legal costs. The new peat mining ban applies not only to provincial parks, but also to the proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site on the east side of Lake Winnipeg. 'Freeing our provincial parks from peat mining is a reason to celebrate for all Manitobans,' said Ron Thiessen, executive director of the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.Ê 'It's a huge leap toward ensuring our parks are healthy for future generations of wildlife and people.' While the NDP continues to work with the industry on a peatlands stewardship strategy, expected to be introduced in the legislature this fall, Mackintosh said the province would also implement two interim peatland-protection measures: Suspension of any new Environment Act licence applications or approvals for peat mining operations in all of Manitoba until the stewardship strategy is implemented. This suspends the possibility for peat mining on the 48 existing peat leases in the Interlake region, but will not apply to the one outstanding licence application for peat mining in the Interlake by Sunterra, which is currently undergoing an environmental review and consultations with aboriginal communities. ÊExtension of the moratorium on 118 pending or any new peat leases until the stewardship strategy is implemented.Ê This goes beyond the moratorium's original end date of June 16, 2013. Mackintosh also released a peer-reviewed study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) on the cumulative impacts of Interlake peat mining on Lake Winnipeg and on climate change. The report shows peat mining's impact on nutrient loading to the lake can be completely mitigated. 'With the health of Lake Winnipeg at a tipping point, I will not allow any new pressures to be introduced,' said Mackintosh. 'That means there will be zero tolerance for any new net nutrient loading to the lake.Ê The IISD research shows this is achievable and we will ensure it through unprecedented licence restrictions.' Peatlands cover more than one-third of Manitoba's landscape.Ê Almost four million tonnes of new peat accumulate every year in the province, while less than 150,000 tonnes are harvested annually.Ê Mackintosh said Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship will begin consultations this year with the peat mining sector to develop an industry-wide approach to mitigating greenhouse-gas emissions. 'Because our peatlands are a carbon sink, they provide significant climate-change benefits to Manitoba and the rest of the planet,' said Mackintosh. 'Our peatlands stewardship legislation will set out longer-term policies for the peat industry, including a carbon offset and mitigation program as well as no-go zones for peat developments and greater opportunities for aboriginal benefit sharing.' Mackintosh said almost 11 per cent of Manitoba's landscape is now fully protected from industrial development 'and we will continue our work on reducing industrial developments in parks.' _ Compiled from a Government of Manitoba news release
